LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - The Gym Group, which floats last November, reported better-than-expected adjusted pre-tax profit for 2015 as membership numbers grew.
In the year ended 31 December, proforma adjusted pre-tax profit came in at £5.3m, which was ahead of consensus expectations of £5.1m.

However, the reported loss before tax widened to £12.4m from £9.4m as a result of costs associated with the initial public offering and other one-off costs.

Revenue rose 31.9% to £60m and group adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were up 15.9% to £17m.

Membership numbers at the end of February had risen to 418,000, a record level with an 11.2% increase since December 2015.

The company said it opened 19 gyms in the period, increasing the total estate to 74, with a further site opening this week.

Chief executive officer John Treharne said: "2015 was a landmark year for The Gym Group with an acceleration in roll out and strong results, culminating in a successful IPO.

"A strong site pipeline for 2016 will see us continue to expand at a fast rate to take advantage of our considerable opportunity. We have a proven model, strong market fundamentals and financial strength to continue to prosper and deliver value for shareholders both in 2016 and much further beyond."

The Gym Group will not be paying a final dividend for 2015 due to the short period of time between the IPO and the year end, but intends to declare an interim dividend in respect of the first half of 2016.

The total dividend for 2016 is expected to be between 10% and 20% of adjusted earnings.

At 1028 GMT, shares were down 5.3% to 232p.

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